The Watchers have existed since before the creation of Orn. The Watchers were the first Creations of the Chtrxy known as Baam, who lived on the surface of the rocky planetoidesque Exile. As the Watchers built their golden cities and learned, Baam made even greater creations, bestowing fragments of it's power to these "Children" Chtrxy. Together they roamed the Beyond for incalculable, incomprehensible time.
While most Chtrxy are fairly dormant, Vlqmk, the "Hungerer", is an exception known to the Mortal Realm. While Baam may have originally been more powerful than Vlqmk, a combination of Baam bestowing fragments of it's power to it's Children and Vlqmk devouring other Chtrxy culminated in an attack on Baam. Scholars debate the outcome of this confrontation, and the possibilities that may exist: some believe that Vlqmk was too powerful for Baam to defeat or escape, others believe that Baam could have overcome Vlqmk by taking it's power back from it's Children. An even more contentious speculation is that Baam didn't take the power back because it wanted to save it's Children and Creations more than itself; the few scholars who risk studying the Beyond argue that this anthropomorphizes Baam too much, as it ascribes traits and behaviors familiar to Mortals to a being beyond our comprehension.
Regardless of the plausibility or reasoning, the golden cities of the Watchers fell with Baam. However, some of the Creations escaped; The Chtrxy, Children of Baam, and the Watchers. After escaping, a group of these surviving Children combined their powers, creating the Realms of Orn, and setting about making their own creations to inhabit it. The Watchers aided them in guiding the development of this new world.
Unfortunately, in creating Orn as anathema to the Beyond in order to shield it from Vlqmk in the future, the Realm was also anathema to the Watchers, as beings of the Beyond themselves. Unwilling to lose the other Creations of Baam forever, the Chtrxy that Mortals would identify as Drakerim and Istensia devised a ritual that would sunder the Watchers' souls. These fragments could persist in the different Realms separate from each other.
With the recent return of several of the Ageless, the destruction of the Nexus, and the ascension of Aethos, the rejoined Watcher Nous, the Watchers are able to sustain themselves within the Realms of Orn more easily. Able to walk and experience the world they once helped watch, guide, and stand guard over.
Shards of Orn version 4.0 Information
Negative Effects:
- Body -2
- Critted by Mind
- Vulnerable to Decay
Beneficial Abilities and Effects:
- Inspire
- Touch "Refresh 1"
- Aether Attunement
- Celestial Interlude
Becoming a Watcher
The ritual that allowed the Watchers to persist in the Mortal Realm did so by sundering their souls, removing the Exile traits that are anathema to the Mortal Realm and allowing their other, more Mortal fragment, to live. Becoming a Watcher requires finding your other fragments and having the willpower to rejoin them.
Realizing your true nature and finding your missing fragments requires extensive Content. The willpower to rejoin them requires that a player be at least level 13. Learning the ritual required involves finding another Watcher or legendary Wizard who has managed to uncover it.
A player must meet the following requirements:
- Complete Content to locate and acquire their fragments.
- Appease their fragments if they have a difference in opinion.
- Learn the ritual to rejoin their fragments.
- Be at least level 13.
If a player meets all of the above, they may unlock the Watcher Stigma and may respend their race using karma.
Costuming for Watcher Characters
The humanoid form of a Watcher is in reality an extension of their will, adopted for the sake of convenience and to interact with the Mortal Realm and the Mortals who inhabit it. Their true physical form is their Mask. While each Watcher's Mask has it's own unique appearance, they are always reminiscent of a masquerade half-mask, composed of a noble metal, and may have varied patterns or designs engraved or embossed onto their surface. The Watcher's humanoid form may appear as they will it, often adopting forms similar to those of other Mortal Races; though their Mask is always prominently displayed on their person, typically either hanging around their neck, or at their hip.
Watchers who gain sufficient power may take on more fantastical forms or achieve feats of high magic; but doing so takes immense willpower, and would take a newly rejoined Watcher ages of Mortal time to master.